‘Kerala may soon have an Onam with own vegetables’

Kochi: The man who started the first hi-tech farm in Kerala is perhaps closer to achieving his dream of helping the state become self-reliant in vegetable cultivation. Shivdas B. Menon, who quit a plush corporate job some 25 years ago to set up a business in agriculture technology here, believes that in another two to three years, Malayalis will be able to celebrate Onam with safe-to-eat vegetables grown within the state.

Mr Menon, the managing director of Kochi-based Sterling Farm Research & Services Pvt Ltd, during an interview with Deccan Chronicle, said that of the 3,000 tonnes of vegetables being consumed in the state a day, about 2,000 tonnes are being imported from neighbouring states.

But government initiatives to popularise high-tech farming since 2011, especially the decision to start three hi-tech farms in each grama panchayat, has started paying dividends.

“When I started the hi-tech farm in 2000 there was hardly any support. But I am happy that the government has come around though it took it more than a decade to do so. There is also a growing awareness among people about the quality of vegetables they eat. This has led to many of them using even their house terraces to grow vegetables free of harmful pesticides,” Mr Menon, chairman of CII-Kerala’s panel on hi-tech farming and good processing and also an expert being consulted by the agriculture department, said. He also hoped that the Global Agro Meet, being held in the state for the first time, at Karukutty from November 6 to 8 would give a further boost to the initiatives.

“Like human beings, plants also give their best when they are comfortable. In a hi-tech farm, we grow the plants in a partially controlled atmosphere, protecting them from rain, high temperature and high humidity. It has been found that a hi-tech farm over1,000 sqft can deliver the equivalent of what a 2-acre open farm can produce,” he pointed out. A 1,000 sqft hi-tech farm could be set up at a cost of around Rs 13 lakh.

Mr Menon, who urged builders to provide a small space to set up hi-tech farms in future apartment constructions, is currently associated with establishing a network to market the vegetables being produced by the farms.